Lillie Belle Houston Bass (my maternal grandmother) was the daughter of John Edward Houston Sr., and Rosabella "Rauzie" Moree Houston. She was next to the oldest girl and was a beauty from early childhood. Her features were absolutely beautiful, and her complexion was "lily white." Perhaps that is why they named her Lillie Belle." She was so talented with her hands. She sewed beautifully, and made bonnets and other lovely hats. Her ambition from her youth was to grow up and go to Atlanta and study to be a milliner. Her father would not hear of it...he said it would not be proper. "Granny" was brokenhearted, but did not let that deter her in her creative talents. She spent her life making beautiful dresses for her two daughters, and then when I came along (my mother was Carolyn Bass Watson Dickens) Granny made beautiful dresses, hats and bonnets for me, and doll clothes for my dolls. The portraits that I have dressed in her bonnets, hats and dresses with pinafores, etc. are priceless to me. Honestly, I was her heart and Pa's too (John Everett Bass) They helped to rear me, and I think it would be only natural to love a grandchild in a special way when you were so much a part of their lives. When Granny died at in 1976 at the age of 85, she did not have a single wrinkle on her face....Her skin was still milk white, and her hair was perfectly white.....she was beautiful in every season of her life. Lillie Belle Houston Bass was a natural beauty and a true Southern Belle all of the days of her life. Her father would not allow her to go outside throughout all of her growing up years without wearing a bonnet and something to cover her arms. He was not an admirer of tanned skin. My how the times have changed...
- Marsha Carol Watson
Added: May. 14, 2012
.